AustLit

In 1920 the Mildura Cultivator, the Mildura Telegraph and the Merbein Irrigationist were bought out by C. J. De Garis and combined into the Sunraysia Daily. Although the paper proved popular, by 1923 De Garis was in a dire financial situation and was subsequerntly forced to place it in the hands of a firm of Melbourne-based financiers. They kept the paper running until a consortium comprising Percy Stewart MP, Dr (later Sir) Earl Page and R. D. Elliott (later a senator) formed the Sunraysia Daily Pty Ltd the following year and took over its operations. Elliott eventually bought out his two partners and formed the Elliott Provincial Newspaper Group (EPNG). Following his death in 1950, C. D. Lanyon secured a controlling interest in the company and became managing director of the group. Under his management the company expanded its interests in regional newspapers, and eventually dropped the word 'provincial' from its name, becoming the Elliott Newspaper Group.

[Source: Sunraysia Daily]